Trends and importance of Swiss e-commerce

Although online retail in Switzerland grew by a further 8 % in 2016, not all online providers are benefiting from market growth. In many sectors, the dominance of a few e-commerce providers is growing. The biggest beneficiaries continue to be a small number of online brands from abroad - overall, foreign online providers grew at around twice the rate of domestic providers. "The loss of market share to foreign e-commerce providers, which has been ongoing for years, is a cause for concern," explains study author Wölfle. "The limits are lower online. In e-commerce, the foreign share is already twice as high as in stationary retail."

Increasing momentum in Swiss e-commerceThe momentum in Swiss e-commerce has increased once again. The reason for this is the large-scale investment projects Galaxus and Siroop. As online marketplaces, they aim to exploit the potential gap arising from Amazon's hesitant involvement in Switzerland to varying degrees. BRACK.CH is also expanding its offering through partnerships: In its new role as an Intersport specialist retailer, its core competencies for e-commerce are also being applied to textile ranges for the first time.Insight into the loss of customer ownershipFor many traditional retailers, the image of their "own" customers is deeply rooted. The independence of location and market transparency associated with smartphones has shaken this marriage. Many online services support the preparation of purchases better than individual providers ever could. Customers are changing their habits accordingly - and providers are losing their customers in the sense that they are no longer their preferred point of contact for certain needs. This development is particularly painful for the accommodation industry, which is currently losing more and more direct bookings to online platforms.New approaches to customers - entry into digital transformationSaying goodbye to customer demands leads to new attitudes and business practices if you understand the tools of digitalization. Instead of passively receiving customers, successful providers actively approach them. The way to do this is through data analysis. It can be used to identify the situations in which customers want something that the provider can offer them. "What the expensive location is in bricks-and-mortar retail, the search term is in e-commerce," explains study author Wölfle. "Identifying customers online at precisely those moments when they have a need is the supreme discipline in online marketing."Agility instead of long-term leasesWhen purchasing decisions are constantly being made differently in the moment and fixed patterns are dissolving, suppliers also have no alternative but to adapt to continuously changing requirements. This requires agile organizations. In addition to efficient decisions, which are primarily based on key figures, a high level of technological competence is required in order to be able to implement new solutions quickly. It also requires the financial resources for experimentation and the willingness to accept failure.Continued performance improvements in logisticsReliability, speed and flexibility - these characteristics of e-commerce logistics are being worked on intensively. The solutions are becoming increasingly differentiated. Providers are asking themselves what level of service is required today, what costs they can bear and where they can even differentiate themselves from the competition through logistics. The delivery options for customers are becoming increasingly diverse.

Cross-channel business concepts remain highly importantSuppliers continue to build physical and digital touchpoints. But the underlying multi-channel concepts are often not yet fully developed. Only a few providers manage to offer an end-to-end, cross-channel customer experience. Complexity and the cost of organizational adaptations play a role, but a lack of strategies and employee buy-in are seen as truly critical to success today.New push in mobile paymentMore and more methods are available in the Swiss market for mobile payment systems. Merchant wallets - native apps with an integrated payment function - have spread very successfully. They are used particularly frequently in ticketing. At SBB, smartphone sales already overtook online sales in 2016. Open mobile payment solutions such as Twint or Apple Pay, on the other hand, are still in their infancy. Swiss retailers are reluctant to implement them. Too much uncertainty results from the attitude of the Twint banks.Online trade continues to growSome brick-and-mortar retailers would be happy if the shift in sales towards e-commerce were to come to an end, but this is not in sight. For the current year, three quarters of the participants in the study panel expect e-commerce in their sector to grow by 5 % or more. In the five-year perspective, almost 40 % expect the share of e-commerce in their sector to increase by at least half compared to today.Digital transformation in the accommodation industryThe accommodation industry, which has already been under pressure for years due to the devaluation of the euro, is struggling with the digital transformation. The mechanisms underlying the success of online booking platforms have been known for two decades. Nevertheless, the industry in this sector - as in many others - is ill-prepared for the extent of the loss of direct bookings. The Bischof political motion is intended to alleviate the plight. The study panel has considerable doubts as to whether it can achieve this. There are no simple solutions for this sector, and the full e-commerce report is available free of charge here.